Suspicion
by Lottie888
Summary: What happens after Paradise Lost.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own the Private novels

Chapter One

Water, it was all around me, fighting its way into my eyes, mouth, and nose. I tried to swim, but what use it was no use when I didn't know which way was up. I tore off the delicate side of my couture gown, to lighten my weight. What was I doing? I had no other choice other than to give up; I might as well die peacefully. I felt dizzy already, and the distant sound of the yacht motor had disappeared. I wished I could have more time, to think of everyone in my life, but I started to black out. Just as I started to fade away a strong hand took hold of my waist and pulled me up. Just as we surfaced the water, before I totally blanked out, I saw my savior. Sawyer.

I woke up to dead silence, and was eerily reminded of a couple of weeks ago at Kiran's pre-party at Easton. A cool soft hand was holding my own, and I opened my eyes to see Sawyer gazing back at me. His soft brown eyes seemed so kind and understanding. I tried to talk, but couldn't make out any words that would make sense.

"I'm really sorry Reed, but even thought things are hard, I didn't want you to kill yourself." He whispered quietly to me.

I was taken aback, killed myself! "But I didn't try to kill myself, somebody pushed me over the railing. Who told you I killed myself?"

"Well, Noelle did, but she was telling Taylor, but I overheard them, and then I just ran to the edge of the boat and jumped in. I mean it makes sense, but if somebody pushed you then…." He trailed off into his own thought. I thought back to when I was pushed, could it be Noelle? She did take my necklace, but why? She had no reason to kill me. Somebody must have told her that's why she was crying. How could I take another betrayal of a friend? What about Poppy, it could of easily been her, after she saw me with Upton, who wouldn't be mad?

"Sawyer, where are we? Is Noelle or Kiran of Taylor around?" First of all things, I had to find them.

"We're still on the yacht, in Daniel's room, and they're outside waiting for you." Okay, I could do this, I wouldn't let any more drama ruin my life. I would get to the bottom of this myself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"So you really think someone intentionally pushed you?" Amberly sounded terrified and shivered, even though it was 75 degrees outside. The whole crew was crammed around a table at Shutters.

"Of course I know, I wouldn't make this up. I'm so tired of all this drama." I couldn't understand why people wouldn't understand this point. Even Upton was a little suspicious of my story. The one time I'd seen him since Casino Night, and he was quiet, and wouldn't talk about why he ran off after had run in on us. Why was he mad at me? He was the one who told us to go there in the first place, and I just wanted him to understand. The only two people not doubting me were Noelle and Sawyer. Sawyer hadn't been more than a few yards away from me since he had rescued me, and Noelle was at my constant beck and call. She'd even promised to let me room with Constatnce, and Amberly move in to the triple.

"Hey, if you want my dad can get the jet to take you home. You know, if you feel a little weird staying here." Noelle looked at me with a sincere look of concern, which was rare from her.

"No, I want to stay here, and find out who tried to kill me. Are you sure no one else got on the yacht that night? Nothing out of the ordinary?"

"Nope, I triple checked with the security men." Tiffany told me. I was so sure it was Sabine or Ariana, even though they were locked up in some crazy hospital, at least I hoped. If not, it could have been one of these people around me. It gave me chills just thinking about it. Of all things, I thought these were my friends, except someone was missing.

"Where's Poppy?" I had just realized that she hadn't been around much since that night, or Upton. No one really answered, and they all averted their eyes from me. Finally Taylor answered quietly.

"We thought you knew Reed, she and Upton and their parents went for a long weekend on the Giles' boat." Oh no, my breakfast was starting to come up. I can't believe he was with Poppy. What was Upton doing when he ran off?

"I have to go!" I ran off to the bathroom and fell on to the ground. I hadn't felt like this since when I was being stalked, and been sent e-mails from Cheyenne after she was dead. The world starting spinning, Noelle ran in the door and came to my side. I started to sweat and fell down on the cold tiles.

"Reed, you don't look too good, your face is all blue. Should I call a doctor or something?" I couldn't talk; I just shook my head and lay down. Slowly my vision shifted into normal sight. "Reed, talk to me, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Sorry, I just felt a little queasy. Maybe just something I ate at breakfast."

"Come on Reed, I know you better. I'm sure that Upton and Poppy are just staying friends. He seems pretty crazy about you, and that's a lot for him to say." I thought about it, I mean he could just need a weekend away that's all.

"Okay, let's go, I want to get some more sleep. I'm still really tired." We walked back to the dining room, but everyone was gone, except Sawyer. He stood, looking out on the ocean, his sandy brown hair blowing behind him. Sawyer looked so peaceful standing there by himself. I turned around, to see Noelle sneak out the back of the restaurant. Sawyer jumped at the sound of the door.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, everyone else left, but I wanted to make sure that you were okay. You seemed pretty freaked out, and I didn't want you to be alone." For a shy person, he really liked to ramble on when he was around people he knew. I suddenly felt a rush of exhilaration, and walked over to him. I put my hand on his shoulder, and he took my waist, and kissed me. Not a passionate kiss, but a soft and light kiss. He took my other hand and held it in his. Then I was brought back to reality, and pulled back.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do this to Upton, I mean we're still together and everything."

"Yeah, Upton. I didn't know you liked to be one of his two girlfriends." He stormed away, and looked back at me, disappointed.

"Excuse me! I'm his only girlfriend, they're just friends!" I screamed back at him, verging on tears.

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Upton can never stay with one girl for more than a week." Then he marched off, and left me alone, slowly breaking down.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

I couldn't stop thinking of what Sawyer said to me, "he can never stay with one girl for more than a week." At first I thought he was exaggerating, but when I had told Noelle, Taylor, and Kiran, they seemed to nod amongst themselves. Was that really true? We'd been together for over a week now, so was that motive for whoever pushed me off the yacht? I had to find out who had been with Upton, because that had to narrow it down to fewer people than were on the yacht.

Wrong, there were more than twice the people on the boat that night! How could one person be with so many women? The four of us all got together, and made a list of all the people he'd ever been with, and for how long. The shortest time was ten minutes, and the longest was six days exactly, but the strange thing was, no one knew who it was. All they knew was during the fall, he fell madly in love with a girl, but she broke up with him. In the summer, he told everyone about it, but left out her name, and why she broke up with him. I had to find out who it was, because that person, was my number one suspect.

"Hey, you want to come snorkeling with us?" Noelle said as she walked in my room. She really needed to cut that habit.

"Oh sure, I'll be down in a second."

"Still staring at that list? It will not help you, I'm sure. Every girl gets heartbroken from that guy, it could be anyone." Noelle was clearly getting annoyed at this, but I knew that Sawyer had a point. He said it with meaning, and had to be the key to why someone had pushed me on that boat. I had to get my mind off of this, so I grabbed a towel and headed out the car.

I had never been snorkeling in my life, but it was amazing. It totally got my mind off of all the drama in my life. The fish had so many colors and were so soothing, I felt like I had been transported to another world. Then suddenly, I couldn't breathe, and I was sucking in strange tasting liquid. I brought my head above the water, and coughed and spluttered, but couldn't catch my breath. Kiran saw me, and swam over and helped me to shore. She pounded me on the back until I spit up whatever it was in my snorkel.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" Kiran sounded panicked as I breathed slowly. I looked and saw a pinkish liquid on the sand.

" That is definitely not something from the sea, someone had to be putting that in my snorkel." I looked at the open ocean and counted three snorkels, and my heart stopped. I ran, and dove out in to the sea, I grabbed a shoulder, but surprisingly found Sienna.

"Sienna? Wait, you tried to poison me? Did you also happen to push me off the yacht?" I wasn't shocked, but still a little surprised.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't think it was you, and I swear I didn't push you. I thought you were someone else, and accidentally dropped it in yours."

"So, you wanted to poison one of my friends? That's still isn't an excuse!" I felt so mad.

"No, I mean, not your friends. I got the wrong group, I meant, someone else…." She trailed off and swam back in to the ocean.

"Wait! Come back, I need to talk to you!" It was no use, she got on a motor boat and left. I swam back to the shore, and told the other girls. Either she was lying and trying to kill me, or was trying to kill someone else. Either way, she was definitely crazy. I now had to find out whom she was trying to kill, and who was trying to kill me. Whoever it was, I had a feeling that they were connected to my killer, and Upton.

I decided to turn back to the car, and take a rest, and made my way up the beach. I waved goodbye to Kiran, Taylor, and Noelle, and felt strangely tired. I pulled a William & Mary sweatshirt from Upton's Christmas present. Just then, I felt a cold hand on my wrist, and a bag pulled over my head. I couldn't see a thing, and was picked up.

"Put her in the car." I heard a deep man's voice in the background, and some muffled whispers. I tried to move my hands, but they were tied to my back. "I'm so sorry, but we won't hurt you, we just need you alone."

"It's hard to believe when you're kidnapping me!" I screamed out of my bag.

"We're not!" Wait, I knew that voice. A hint of a British accent came through, and I suddenly felt comforted.

"Upton! Who are you with, you said we." I said quietly, feeling a little scared.

"Oh my gosh, Upton. Someone might hear her, and she said your name!" I recognized that voice too it was Poppy. So they never left the island, they had to be up to something. I was picked up again, and thrown on to something soft, like a beanbag, and the bag was pulled off my head. We were in a light green bedroom, probably Poppy's, and saw her and Poppy sitting on her bed.

"What do you want?" I questioned.

"We think we might know something about that night on the yacht, and Sienna poisoning you." Poppy said in a hushed town, as she bent over.

"Wait, you saw that? And she told me, she didn't know it was me, she thought it was someone else."

"There's something you don't know about her, something that might be a little disturbing."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Wait, do you think Sienna really pushed me? She tried to poison me, but she said that was an accident. Oh, she must have been lying. I was so stupid! What else is wrong with her?" I couldn't help letting all my questions spew out of my mouth. I needed to know.

"Would you calm down, we don't know if she pushed you, but we do know something else. She was telling the truth about accidentally poisoning you, because she was trying to poison Paige." Poppy said in a hushed tone. She looked so serious, I was actually stunned so much, I couldn't make out a response. Upton spoke after a few moments, which seemed like years.

"We don't know why, but earlier today, she asked Paige what she was doing that afternoon, and when."

"That still doesn't prove that she poisoned me!" I interrupted.

"Let me finish, then she followed Paige out on a boat with some guy. Then she got off track, and she thought you were Paige." Poppy said like she'd told this story a million times. Paige? Why Paige? What had she ever done to Sienna? I thought they had been friends.

"I thought you guys were friends, and now you think she's a killer? This just doesn't make sense. You three were all hanging out a week ago, like you were best friends." I said.

"Well, that's what I thought, until on Casino night, I came back crying after I found you two, well, you know… but anyway, she screamed at me to shut up and get over myself. I just stood there, and she pushed past me. Ever since, she's been ignoring my texts, calls, and e-mails." Poppy started to drift off, a little sad. I kind of felt bad for her, even if Upton and her had never technically been together.

"By the way, I'm really sorry about what happened that night. I never meant for you to see that, or even know." I pleaded.

"I'm just not thinking about it right now, but thank you for bringing that up."

"Anyway, we have to figure out why Sienna is so mad at Paige. I didn't even know that they knew each other before this trip!" I tried to change the subject.

After hours of looking up their names, and checking their facebook pages, we had found out nothing so far. Why hadn't Poppy known that her best friend had a secret dark past with Paige Ryan, if she didn't know, who would? Then it hit me, "Daniel! I've got it! We should ask Daniel!"

"Oh yeah, that conversation would go great! Hey Daniel, does your sister had a dark history with my friend Sienna?" Poppy said sarcastically.

"Fine, fine. I get it, but he's our only hope of finding out, without having to ask Paige or Sienna. He might even know about what happened on Casino Night. You know that it's the best hope we've had so far!" Upton was still scrolling through the results under Google. Then he turned around.

"I've found something! I found it! It's about Paige. Here's an article from a couple years ago, about Paige Ryan getting arrested with an unknown girl around her age. They were at a bar, and the unknown female suspect slapped Paige Ryan, and Paige tackled her and slammed a wineglass on her head! That other girl must be Sienna, and that's why she tried to poison her!"

"Then why did she act like they barely knew each other when they met, and acted like best friends. There has to be a better explanation for this. Keep reading."

"Wait, here, I've got something. It says the same girl that she beat up, mysteriously bailed Paige Ryan out of jail. It just doesn't make sense." Upton kept reading more links about the fight.

Poppy paced her room. "How could she not tell me, we've been best friends for years. I can't believe she never told me."

"Anything else Upton?" I asked nervously.

"Well, this might not have to do with Paige and Sienna, but this has to do with Sienna and Noelle." He said disappointed.

"Wait, what do you mean something to do with Noelle?"

"No, it's probably not important. It just says that Sienna thought that she bought some necklace that she reserved first. Nothing big." He said like it was the morning news.

"Wait, what necklace?" I said nervously.

"I don't know, it just says it was a one of a kind sapphire necklace."

"It had to be Sienna who did it then, she pulled off my necklace before she pushed me of the yacht. I knew it."

"But that doesn't make sense, because why would she push you, when she has no motive, and wouldn't she be mad at Noelle, not you." Poppy explained.

"That's what you think." A voice came from the door of the room. I whirled around to see who it was. Daniel stood in the doorway, with a cut along his arm, blood dripping on to the floor. "I need to talk to you guys, it's kind of important. Sienna has gone crazy."

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'll be faster next time. Please keep reading!**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

" Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" I asked feverishly, at the sight of the blood. He looked pale, and had dark circles under his eyes.

"It's Sienna, she said that if I told you guys about her, then I'd be sorry, but I just laughed. I didn't think she could really do any harm. But then she pulled out a knife, and cut my arm. I ran off, and I just have to tell you. Sienna has a secret with Noelle, it's about the necklace you wore."

"Yeah, we got that already." Poppy said as she mopped up the blood, looking repulsed.

"No, I've got more than just that. She told Noelle if she ever saw that necklace again, she'd do anything to get it back, no matter who gets hurts." He said with grief in his eyes, like he'd lost his best friend. Something just didn't seem to add up yet, it didn't really seem like something she'd say.

"Hey, Daniel. So did Sienna actually tell you that? Or someone else, maybe?" I inquired.

"Umm, yeah she told me." He started to panic a little now.

"And then she told you not to tell anybody else, after she told you? Then you said you would tell on her."

"Yeah, that's what happened." A little certainty came back to his voice. Dash finally spoke up.

"Maybe we should talk to Sienna first, since we're all accusing her without information." He put his hand on my leg, and held on to it comfortingly. "I mean, I know she wanted to poison Paige, but we need to hear another side of the story, okay?"

"Yeah, go talk to that liar, she knew you'd never believe me." He said under his breath. Daniel stormed out the room and slammed the door, we sat there without a word. After minutes of quiet, Poppy spoke up.

"Okay, we better go talk to Sienna, just to see."

"But who was the "she" he was talking about, Paige maybe? Amberly?" Dash said.

"I'm betting on Paige, he doesn't really know Amberly that well" I told them, I was certain it was Paige. Daniel seemed to be under Paige's watchful eye at all times.

"Yeah, but that's what we thought about Sienna, and look at her, she has ties to everyone." Poppy said, still calm, and now touching up her perfect pedicure. That was true, why was everyone never who people think they are. It's like the whole world is keeping some dark secret from me.

"Let's go talk to Sienna, then we'll get to Paige. One person at a time, because who knows what could happen if we split up." I had to be the word of reason, something bad would have definitely happened.

"But what if one of those people try to kill someone else? I'll go talk to Amberly. Dash, you talk to Sienna, and Reed will go talk to Paige, okay? That way we'll cover all our suspects."

"Since when is Amberly a suspect?" I asked nervously.

"Well she doesn't exactly like you, and you kind of stole the attention from Noelle. Do you have a habit of doing that or something?" Poppy said smoothly.

"Are you sure we should split up? I feel a bit uneasy about this." I tried to convince them.

"It's our only chance, come on Reed. I don't want a friend dead." Dash said with a hand on my shoulder. His voice was so convincing and warm, like a lullaby almost, lulling me to agree.

"Oh my gosh, just say yes so we can get started, okay? Your mushy words are making me sick" Poppy said.

"Okay, let's go then." I agreed.


End file.
